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You guys are so good at identifying critters, I thought I would ask about this one. My grandson found it up on our property last month and wanted me to identify it. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
http://www.countrybynet.com/attachme...-centipede.JPG
It's about 6" long, and those are live oak leaves. Any help will be greatly appreciated. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]
It would seem that it's a scolopendra heros. It needn't be venemous for me to want to avoid it.
We found one in our bedroom a few weeks ago. I'm used to scorpions, but really don't care for these.
Paul,
I believe you've nailed it! [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img] As far as it being venomous, I quote from your link:
<font color="green"> In the mid 1920s, Dr. Baerg tested the effect of the venom by inducing a centipede to bite one of his little fingers, leaving the fangs inserted for about four seconds. The bite was followed by a sharp and strictly local pain, which began to subside noticeably after about 15 minutes. </font color> [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
Anything for science, I guess! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
Thanks.
Hondo,
Don't read the part about the soldier who woke up with one crawling across his chest! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
Too late! I read it. I've been known to take scorpions outside and let 'em scuttle off, but these things get the heel of my boot.
OK...OK... now you people expect me to sleep tonight?!?! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
Yuch!
Curtis
Aw, man! That looks like lunch on one of those reality shows on t.v.! Nice and crunchy with plenty of legs to tickle your innards on the way down!
I never saw a centipede even remotely close to being that big. I can't even imagine what a six inch centipede would look like. The ones I am used to seeing are about an inch long. My wife would still be running if she'd have seen one like that! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
Well, at least they don't move very fast. Not wanting to make a mess in the house, I swept this one into a dustpan and took it outside to send it on to its great reward. I've used a bucket before - set it on its side right in front of it, and watched it walk right in.
Neato! We have one in a terrarium here in our office. He is named, appropriately, "Freak Show" and likes crickets best of all.
He gives me the willies every time I look at him, though. We had one in our house a couple of years ago. We saw him when he fell off the wall with an audible "thud" [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] . Any insect that makes a "thud" noise is too big, in my opinion. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]